French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office for five years after being convicted on Monday of embezzlement, a political watershed that rules her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she can win an appeal.
Survivors were pulled out of rubble in Myanmar and signs of life were detected in the ruins of a skyscraper in Bangkok on Monday as efforts intensified to find people trapped three days after a massive earthquake in Southeast Asia that killed at least 2,000.
The bodies of eight Red Crescent medics and other Palestinian rescue workers who came under fire more than a week ago had been recovered from a grave in the sand in the south of the Gaza Strip, said UN officials.
Le Pen convicted of graft, barred from running for president in 2027
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office for five years after being convicted on Monday of embezzlement, a political watershed that rules her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she can win an appeal.
The French court’s ruling was a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the National Rally (RN) party chief who has long been one of the most prominent figures in the European far right and who had been the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 contest.
The ruling could have wide-ranging repercussions on French politics as anger in the RN, which is the biggest party in parliament, could push the hung assembly deeper into disarray, also complicating thingsfor the minority centre-right government.
Judge Benedicte de Perthuis said Le Pen had been “at the heart” of a scheme to misappropriate more than €4-million of EU funds and use them to pay the far-right party’s staff back home.
The lack of remorse by Le Pen and other defendants was among reasons that prompted the court to ban them for running for office with immediate effect, said De Perthuis.
Le Pen’s allies were quick to criticise the ruling as being politicised.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro told Reuters on Monday that the ruling was “left-wing judicial activism”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: “Je suis Marine!”
“Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly convicted: It was French democracy that was killed,” said Le Pen’s right-hand man, RN president Jordan Bardella.
RN legislator Robert le Bourgeois told Reuters: “It’s not up to a politicised justice to say who can run in an election or not.”
But centrist legislator Sacha Houlie said on X: “At what point do we think that a judge will not apply the law? Is society so sick that it is offended by what is nothing more and nothing less than the rule of law?”
The judge also handed Le Pen a four-year prison sentence — two years of which are suspended and two years to be served under home detention. She received a €100,000 fine.
Le Pen (56) would appeal, said her lawyer, and neither the prison sentence nor the fine will be applied until her appeals are exhausted. But the five-year ban from running for office starts immediately.
Le Pen has run three times for president and has said 2027 will be her final run for top office. Her hopes now lie on overturning Monday’s ruling at appeal before the election. Appeals in France can take months or even years.
Before Monday’s events, Le Pen had described prosecutors as seeking her “political death”. She left the courtroom in Paris before the judge read out her sentence, and without making any comment.
Ahead of the ruling, mainstream politicians, including centre-right Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, had said they were ill at ease with the idea that any ban on Le Pen could be enforced immediately and stop her from running in 2027.
The RN and two dozen party figures were also found guilty of diverting European Parliament funds. The party was ordered to pay a €2-million fine, with half the amount suspended.
The defendants were not accused of pocketing the money. They had said the money was used legitimately.
Le Pen will retain her parliamentary seat until her term ends. That will be in 2029 unless snap parliamentary elections are called before then.
Myanmar earthquake death toll exceeds 2,000
Survivors were pulled out of rubble in Myanmar and signs of life were detected in the ruins of a skyscraper in Bangkok on Monday as efforts intensified to find people trapped three days after a massive earthquake in Southeast Asia that killed at least 2,000.
Rescuers freed four people, including a pregnant woman and a girl, from collapsed buildings in Mandalay, the city in central Myanmar near the epicentre of Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake, reported China’s Xinhua news agency.
Drone footage of the city showed a huge, multistorey building pancaked into layers of concrete, but some gilded temples were still standing.
One survivor in Mandalay said that after rescue workers pulled him out of the rubble of his restaurant, he had rented a bulldozer with his own money to try to find the body of one of his workers and make the building safe for his neighbours.
Civil war in Myanmar, where a military junta seized power in a coup in 2021, was complicating efforts to reach those injured and made homeless by the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest quake in a century.
One rebel group said Myanmar’s ruling military was still conducting airstrikes on villages in the aftermath of the quake, and Singapore’s foreign minister called for an immediate ceasefire to help relief efforts.
In the Thai capital, Bangkok, rescuers pulled out another body from the rubble of an unfinished skyscraper that collapsed in the quake, bringing the death toll from the building collapse to 12, with a total of 19 dead across Thailand and 75 still missing at the building site.
In Myanmar, state media said the death toll had reached 2,065, with more than 3,900 injured and over 270 missing and that the military government had declared a week-long mourning period from Monday.
The quake devastation has piled more misery on Myanmar, already in chaos from the civil war that intensified after the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted by the military.
Bodies of Palestinian medics recovered from grave in Gaza
The bodies of eight Red Crescent medics and other Palestinian rescue workers who came under fire more than a week ago had been recovered from a grave in the sand in the south of the Gaza Strip, said UN officials.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa), said on X on Monday that the bodies had been “discarded in shallow graves — a profound violation of human dignity”.
In a statement late on Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled” at the deaths.
“Their bodies were identified today and have been recovered for dignified burial. These staff and volunteers were risking their own lives to provide support to others,” it said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said one worker from the nine-strong Red Crescent group was still unaccounted for. It did not immediately comment on the details of the site where the bodies were found. The group went missing on 23 March, after Israel resumed an all-out offensive against Hamas earlier this month.
The Palestine Red Crescent said it also recovered the bodies of six civil defence members and one UN employee from the same area. It said Israeli forces had targeted the workers. Red Cross statements did not apportion blame for the attacks.
The Israeli military said on Monday that an inquiry had found that on 23 March, troops opened fire on a group of vehicles that included ambulances and fire trucks when the vehicles approached a position without prior coordination and without headlights or emergency signals.
It said several militants belonging to the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed.
“The IDF condemns the repeated use of civilian infrastructure by the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, including the use of medical facilities and ambulances for terrorist purposes,” it said.
Jonathan Whittall, the Gaza head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, described the site where the bodies were found as a “mass grave”, saying it had been marked with the emergency light from a crushed ambulance.
His comments on X were accompanied by pictures of Red Crescent teams digging in the sand for the bodies next to a mangled fire truck and a U.N. vehicle.
Lazzarini said the deaths brought the total number of aid workers killed since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to 408.
The incident was the single most deadly attack on Red Cross Red Crescent workers anywhere since 2017, the IFRC said.
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians,” said IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain.
“They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked,” he added.
According to the United Nations, at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed in the 18 months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
Greenland’s incoming PM looks forward to visit from Danish counterpart
Greenland’s incoming prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Monday that he was looking forward to a visit from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday and that Greenland had been wishing for this visit.
Frederiksen on Saturday announced that she would visit Greenland on April 2-4 for talks with the semi-autonomous Danish territory’s new government, amid US interest in taking control of the Arctic island.
“Denmark is our closest partner, and it is natural that we meet as soon as possible,” Nielsen wrote in a post on Facebook.
Panama rejects request for Red Notice for ex-president Martinelli
Panama’s police said on Sunday they had rejected a request by the judiciary branch to seek a Red Notice by Interpol for former President Ricardo Martinelli, on the grounds that this is prohibited for refugees or political asylum seekers.
Martinelli, who was president of the Central American nation from 2009 to 2014, has been living inside Nicaragua’s embassy in Panama City since the country’s government moved to arrest him after a court found him guilty of money laundering.
On Thursday, a top Panamanian official said the government had approved safe passage for Martinelli to travel to Nicaragua, where he has received asylum.
“After the legal review of the request from the judicial branch to include former President Martinelli in the Interpol database, we confirm that we have rejected the processing of said notification,” said a statement.
“It does not comply with the parameters established by Interpol since 2014, and we reaffirmed in 2017, which prohibit the issuance of red alerts on citizens who are refugees or political asylum seekers, as is the case of Mr. Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal.”
US sanctions six Chinese and Hong Kong officials for rights abuses
The US on Monday sanctioned six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials for “transnational repression” and actions it said eroded the autonomy of Hong Kong, one of the first major moves by the new Trump administration to punish China over its crackdown on democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
“Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a US citizen and four other US residents,” said the State Department.
“Today, in response, the United States is sanctioning six individuals who have engaged in actions or policies that threaten to further erode the autonomy of Hong Kong in contravention of China’s commitments, and in connection with acts of transnational repression,” it said.
Western countries have criticized Beijing for imposing the National Security Law on Hong Kong and using it to jail pro-democracy activists, as well as shutter liberal media outlets and civil society groups.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law, which punishes subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison, has brought stability to the Chinese-controlled territory after large-scale anti-government protests there in 2019.
The sanctions announced on Monday block any US financial assets belonging to the individuals, including Dong Jingwei, a former senior official at China’s main civilian intelligence agency who is now the director of Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong.
Dong was previously China’s top spy catcher who had oversight of counter-intelligence. He was also vice minister of state security, a high-profile role which included hunting down foreign spies in China and nationals who colluded with foreign countries.
Sonny Au, Dick Wong, Margaret Chiu, Raymond Siu and Paul Lam — all security or police officials in Hong Kong — were also sanctioned for their involvement in the “coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning of individuals” under the National Security Law.
Kremlin says it’s working on Ukraine peace plan
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia and the US were working on ideas for a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties despite US President Donald Trump saying that he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin.
Trump told NBC News he was very angry after the Russian leader criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the US president suggested he could impose secondary tariffs of 25%-50% on buyers of Russian oil.
Trump later reiterated to reporters he was disappointed with Putin but added: “I think we are making progress, step by step.”
Asked about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was continuing to work with Washington and that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
“We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous (US) administration,” said Peskov.
“And we are also working on the implementation of some ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement. This work is under way, but so far there are no specifics that we could or should tell you about. This is a time-consuming process, probably due to its complexity.”
A call between Trump and Putin, he said, could be arranged at short notice if necessary, though none was scheduled for this week.
Since taking office in January, Trump has shifted the US to a more conciliatory stance towards Russia that has left Western allies wary as he tries to broker an end to the war.
His comments about Putin on Sunday reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” said Trump.
“That would be, that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” said Trump. “There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
Russia has committed over 183,000 war crimes in Ukraine, says Zelensky
Zelensky called on Monday for Russia to be punished for more than 183,000 alleged war crimes documented by Ukraine since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, saying justice was needed to prevent “evil from proliferating”.
He made his comments to a summit of European officials in Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where Russian troops have been accused of atrocities including executions, rapes and torture while occupying it.
Russia did not immediately comment after business hours on Zelensky’s remarks, but has previously denied its soldiers have committed atrocities and says the West has ignored Ukraine’s crimes, a charge denied by Kyiv.
“More than 183,000 crimes related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have been officially documented,” said Zelensky on the third anniversary of Russian troops being forced out of Bucha.
He added that the tally documented by Ukraine since the February 2022 full-scale invasion did not include most of the Ukrainian territory Russia currently occupies.
“We need effective international law to guarantee the protection of our people and all European society from such threats,” said Zelensky.
“Justice must be served to prevent evil from proliferating. Pressure on Russia and sanctions against it are necessary to ensure that the war and abuse do not expand further.”
The vast majority of war crimes cases against Russia are being investigated by Ukraine and tried locally. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which Ukraine officially joined this year, has also conducted investigations into high-profile cases.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the deportation of Ukrainian children, a move dismissed by Moscow as legally meaningless.
US deports more alleged gang members to El Salvador
The Trump administration deported more alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members to El Salvador over the weekend, sending 17 more people it says were foreign criminals, said the US State Department on Monday.
The group of alleged violent criminals tied to Tren de Aragua and MS-13 was transported by the US military on Sunday night, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, adding that the deportees included murderers and rapists.
Trump took office in January vowing to deport millions of immigrants in the US illegally as part of a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law that historically has been used only in wartime, to target alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The American Civil Liberties Union challenged Trump’s use of the law, saying it denies the migrants the due process promised by the US Constitution to contest the basis for their removal. Family members of some of those deported have denied that they have gang ties.
A US federal appeals court last week upheld a lower court’s block on Trump’s use of the law to rapidly deport alleged gang members. The Trump administration has said it would continue to use other legal authorities for deportations. Rubio did not say which authorities were used for Sunday’s deportations.
The Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to lift the halt on Trump’s use of the law.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X that the deportees were “confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders, including six child rapists”. A list of 16 deportees published by a Fox News reporter and confirmed by the White House showed 12 people with criminal convictions, one self-admitted gang member, and three facing charges.
A senior Pentagon official said on Monday that the US military had completed a “successful counter-terrorism mission” in partnership with El Salvador, without specifying what kind of “counter-terrorism” operation it had carried out.
Italy investigates drone flyovers of EU facility, spying suspected
Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible espionage and terrorism after a drone flew several times over an EU research centre in northwestern Italy, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter on Monday.
The European Joint Research Centre (JRC) in the town of Ispra, on Lake Maggiore, reported five flyovers in March by a commercial drone, which was believed to be of Russian manufacture judging from the images, said the sources.
Flights over the JRC, which opened in 1960 as a nuclear research site, are not allowed.
As a result, the anti-terrorism department of the Milan public prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation into military or political espionage for terrorist purposes, added the source.
The JRC website says the Ispra centre is the European Commission’s third largest research campus after those in Brussels and Luxembourg, dealing with numerous issues, including nuclear security, space, sustainable resources, migration and transport.
Moldova expels three Russian diplomats
Moldova expelled three Russian diplomats on Monday after it accused Russia’s embassy of engineering the escape of a pro-Kremlin legislator to prevent him from being jailed in a case over illegal political funding.
The case of Alexander Nesterovschii, who could not be reached for comment, is the latest in which Moldova’s pro-European government has accused Russia of meddling in its domestic politics. Moscow denies the accusation.
“Interference by the Russian Federation with the judicial system of the Republic of Moldova is unacceptable. Imagine that the Republic of Moldova interfered with justice in the Russian Federation,” President Maia Sandu told Radio Moldova.
The Russian ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Ozerov, said her accusation of meddling was unfounded.
Moldova’s security service released a video which it said showed Nesterovschii entering the Russian embassy in Chisinau on 18 March, a day before a court sentenced him in absentia to 12 years in jail.
He was found guilty of illegally channelling money to a pro-Russian party associated with fugitive businessman Ilan Shor at local elections in 2023, as well as the 2024 presidential vote and a national referendum on Moldova’s EU aspirations.
Nesterovschi denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.
The security service said that on the day of his sentencing he was driven in a white car with diplomatic plates to the Russian-backed Transdniestria region that broke away from Moldovan control in the early 1990s.
“This type of activity is part of the mechanism of hybrid aggression directed against the Republic of Moldova,” Alexandru Musteata, director of Moldova’s Security and Intelligence Service, told a briefing.
Moldova’s government, which aims to take the former Soviet republic into the European Union by 2030, has repeatedly accused Russia of meddling and trying to destabilise it.
Iran will deliver ‘strong blow’ against US if it attacks, says Ayatollah Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday the US would receive a strong blow if it acted on Trump’s threat to bomb unless Tehran reaches a new nuclear deal with Washington.
Trump reiterated his threat on Sunday that Iran would be bombed if it does not accept his offer for talks outlined in a letter sent to Iran’s leadership in early March, giving Tehran a two-month window to make a decision.
Iran handed a warning on Monday about Trump’s threats to Switzerland’s embassy, which represents US interests and acts as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran, state media said. In its warning, Tehran expressed determination to respond “decisively and immediately” to any threat.
“The enmity from the US and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable, but if they commit any mischief they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow,” said Khamenei.
“And if they are thinking of causing sedition inside the country as in past years, the Iranian people themselves will deal with them,” he added. DM